Chiefs are Champs

Perfection isn't always easy.

Massapequa's varsity boys' volleyball capped a perfect 21-0 season by winning the Nassau County Class A title. 

But the top seeded Chiefs had to survive a five set thriller before winning the match at Adelphi University Thursday night by just two points. 

After dropping only one set the entire season, the Chiefs held on to beat the No. 3 Schreiber Vikings of Port Washington  25-23, 25-22, 16-25, 19-25 and 25-23.

From the early going of game one, right up to match point in game five, Schreiber proved to be a game challenger.

It didn't look that way at the start as the Chiefs took the first two sets.  But the Vikings caught fire and stunned  Massapequa  in the next two sets, to force a deciding game.

That deciding game was back and forth throughout. It started with the Chiefs going up 4-1. Then Schreiber  went on a 6-1 run to take the lead at 7-5. The Vikings would increase their lead to 16-12, but back came the Chiefs, getting within one at 18-17. Then with Schreiber hanging on to a 19-17 lead, the Chiefs went on a four-point run to gain a two-point advantage at 21-19 — their first lead since the early stages of the game.

They split the next four points to give the Chiefs a 23-21 lead,  but the Vikings wouldn't go away. Two successive points tied the set at 23 when the championship match turned on a critical error.  On the Vikings' next serve, everything changed. The referee immediately whistled the play dead, calling  Shreiber on a rotation error that awarded the point to the Chiefs, and setting up match point.

The Vikings argued the call, but to no avail and the Chiefs put the finishing touches to their perfect season on the next point.